September 9, 1880. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 237 
boilers. This sight was certainly not the least attractive of the 
day, and to walk through the houses and view the luscious fruit 
hanging in bunches overhead within easy reach greatly exercised 
one’s virtue, which, however, was rewarded on departing, for then 
the occupants of each carriage received a box containing a bunch 
of the tempting fruit of the Duke of Buccleuch, the total weight 
of the bunches being 112 lbs.” 
- E. L. writes as follows :—“ The peculiar Orchid Bolbo- 
phyllum Beccarii, of which Messrs. E. G. Henderson & Son 
exhibited a flowering specimen at the last meeting of the Eoyal 
Horticultural Society, though certainly not possessed of any 
qualities entitling it to the term ‘ gorgeous,’ which has been 
somewhat strangely applied to it, is yet deserving of note from 
the extraordinary size of the leaves and the repulsive odour of 
the flowers. The leaf on the plant referred to was nearly 3 feet 
in length by about 2 feet in width, the small foetid flowers being 
borne in a dense spike. I believe this was the first time the plant 
has been flowered in this country.” 
- The cultivation of Tobacco in France appears to be 
increasing. In the Department of which Calais is the principal 
town, this crop is said to be an important part of the industry of 
the district. Last year, in the Pas de Calais, 2100 acres were 
authorised to be planted with Tobacco, which was 247 acres more 
than in 1878 ; and this implies that both the Government and 
the agriculturists were satisfied with their previous experience. 
The amount furnished to the Government from this area was 
3,659,636 lbs., or an average of 1743 lbs. per acre ; and at the 
price which the French Government gives for the best quality, 
namely 1 franc 45 cents per kilogramme, the yield per acre would 
be about £24 15s. The quantity grown in 1879 was 573,196 lbs. 
more than in 1878. The Department of the Fiord, another 
district with a climate closely corresponding with that of the 
south of England, grew rather more tobacco than the Pas de Calais. 
- A Naples correspondent referring to the phylloxera 
in Italy says :—“ It is reported from Messina that the invasion 
of the phylloxera is of greater extent than at first supposed. The 
Ministry has authorised the spending of another 10,000 francs, and 
decreed the destruction of more vineyards, on which work about 
three hundred men are employed. The proprietors are dismayed 
at the ruin with which they are menaced.” The Government of 
Turkey has also forbidden the importation of any plants into that 
country, as a means of preventing the increase of the phylloxera 
in the Sultan’s territories. 
- We received from Mr. Eivers during the last week of 
August a perfectly ripe, large, and handsome specimen of BeurrA 
de l’Assomption Pear, the quality of which was of great excel¬ 
lence. The fruit had been grown on a tree in a pot, and was 
placed outdoors in June. This is a much larger and earlier Pear 
than Williams’ Bon Chretien, and is highly worthy of a position 
on a south wall or other sheltered aspect, as it is undoubtedly the 
finest of all early Pears. It was raised in France by M. Eouille 
de Beauchamp, and first fruited in 1863. 
- A daily contemporary in discussing the condition and 
prospects of the Fiji Islands under British rule, gives the following 
statement concerning the well-known Coffee disease —“The 
worst insect is the heneleia vastatrix, which settles on the young 
Coffee shrubs. Some rash trader from Melbourne introduced the 
pestilent little grub, and now the British authorities are obliged 
to put plantations infested with this plague into strict quarantine, 
for fear of the infection spreading to other plantations.” Possibly 
the writer of the above remarks will be surprised to learn that the 
Hemeleia vastatrix is a fungus, and not an insect. 
- Mr. James Cross of Bailie House, Wimborne, states that 
he planted in spring 1 bushel of Carter’s Improved Magnum 
Bonum Potatoes, and he has just dug 28 bushels as the yield, 
none of the tubers being diseased. 
FUNGI versus DISEASE IN PLANTS. 
The contributions of your correspondent, Mr. E. Luckhurst, 
usually contain so much of practical interest and value to readers 
of the Journal, that in common with many others 1 generally derive 
no mean share of satisfaction and profit from perusing his re¬ 
marks. It was, therefore, with a feeling of regret I found when 
reading his note on the shanking of Grapes in the last issue of the 
Journal, that our opinions regarding the relation of fungi to 
diseases in plants were entirely at variance. After referring to 
the fact that the Potato disease, Peach blister, and the shanking of 
Grapes have been attributed to the effects of fungi, Mr. Luckhurst 
states, “ In every instance the idea is erroneous.” He then draws 
attention to some well-known peculiarities of fungi, and observes 
that the diseased epidermis of any part of the young and tender 
growth of plants affords a suitable medium for the vegetating of 
fungus spores, and thence infers that fungi do not produce disease, 
but “ follow and are the results of it.” The only evidence ad¬ 
duced in support of this view is the somewhat doubtful fact that 
“ delicate sickly human beings ” are more subject to infectious 
diseases than “ those in robust health,” a rule which I am per¬ 
suaded is by no means general; and further, the “analogy existing 
between plants and animals ” is not of such a nature as to justify the 
argument. An intelligent and observant man like Mr. Luckhurst 
must, I am convinced, have other and better grounds for his 
opinion than the single statement referred to, and a further ex¬ 
plication of his views would greatly favour myself and others who 
are interested in the subject. 
The Fungi are an extremely large family, and the numerous 
forms differ very much in their characters ; but there are two great 
sections into which they clearly fall—namely, those that grow 
upon the decomposing remains of organic matter, and those 
that grow only upon living beings, either vegetable or animal, 
and are true parasites. The latter, as with all parasites, possess 
the power of appropriating to themselves the substance of the 
being they infest, breaking up or decomposing the organic com¬ 
pounds, and thus obtaining the elements necessary for their 
growth. In the higher divisions of the vegetable kingdom parasites 
of various kinds occur, some with leaves and abundance of chloro¬ 
phyll, which obtain Jrom the host the rising or crude sap that is 
elaborated in their own leaves under the influence of the sun, 
while other forms, leafless and devoid of chlorophyll, subsist upon 
the descending or fully elaborated sap. The fungi resemble the 
latter in their action, for the whole of their support is derived 
from the living substance of the host, and when that dies the 
infesting parasite dies also. The conditions necessary to the 
growth of fungi are chiefly a particular temperature and moisture 
which vary according to the species, and without these conditions 
are provided the spores or mycelium of a fungus must perish, 
which much more frequently occurs from that cause than from 
the want of “ a suitable nidus.” Can Mr. Luckhurst bring into 
accordance with his view the fact that some parasitical fungi are 
entirely confined to particular species of plants ? 
I have not referred particularly to the Potato disease, which is 
undoubtedly one of the true parasitic fungi, nor to the Peach 
blister, or the shanking of Grapes, the connection of the latter 
with fungi being by no means clear, but to the matter gene¬ 
rally, as did your correspondent after introducing his remarks 
with a few observations on the singularity of disease being so 
often attributed to the effects of fungus, instancing those above 
named as examples.—S. 
SHANKING OF GRAPES. 
I AM much obliged to Mr. Taylor for his kind and considerate 
letter on page 193 in reply to mine on the “ Shanking of Grapes. 
Still I must entirely differ from him. It is not a matter in which 
I have come to a hasty conclusion, but the outcome of some years 
of close observation. When I said the Vines were healthy, I 
mean that they were all that could be desired in that way, and 
also I may say that the crop of fruit they were bearing was 
exceptionally fine ; indeed I have never seen better, and this was 
also the opinion of others, as I can show. I sent some of them to 
Covent Garden Market, and my salesman wrote to say “ that they 
were the admiration of all who saw them, and he could sell as 
many as I liked to send at very high prices.” Well, some of these 
very bunches had little pieces shanked. They were cut off and 
carefully examined, and I am of the same opinion now as I was 
when I last wrote—it is caused by fungus. I am perfectly aware 
